Greg Mein

To learn guitar you really need to start with the "open", often referred to as cowboy, chords; major E, A, D, G, C, F, Minor E, A, D and 7th chord shapes. Obviously there are 1000's of songs derived from just those. As you progress you take some of those shapes and learn to play barre chords but if you're just interested in chord accompaniment you can cheat quite a bit by just using a capo.

The solder you've listed contains lead so be sure to have some decent ventilation where you're working.

The only time I took a guitar on a flight it caused a problem. We were headed to Ft Lauderdale for a cruise. Timing was tight to catch a connecting flight at O'Hare but I had to wait for them to bring up the guitar and we missed it. We had to catch a later flight and ended up seeing New Years as the plane was landing. On the upside I got to watch William Shatner in 'Nightmare at 20,000 Feet' during the Twilight Zone NYE marathon a bit higher, around 30,000 feet.

Installing the EXZ011 Classic EPs wave expansion turned out to be the quick fix. Costs $20 but there are a couple of far better Clav sounds in there that will work for me and now I can stop worrying and whining for a while.

This turned out to be the easy fix for me, found a couple that are way better. Thanks for the suggestion.

This is my wife's keyboard that we bought for live gigs after my old Privia PX-3 became unreliable. It was my idea to buy this one and I did it on blind loyalty since I've owned a number of Roland boards over the years including the FA-08 which has been retired to my studio. Overall it has the sounds she needs, plays great and is solid. She got up to speed with it quickly which was great because I didn't want to have to be messing around with it. The issue arrises because I'm going to walk over to this keyboard and play Superstition while she plays the EWI-5000 and I discovered the Clav sounds on this thing are the worst I've ever heard. Before, when we were a duo, I had my Korg Krome 61 always in front of me which I used to play a few songs and it also was the sound generator for the DP midi backing tracks I'd created. It has fantastic Clav sounds but now that we're moving into full live band territory I didn't plan to take it. So now what to do for such a singular little one dimensional problem? I believe I'll try the free trial membership but first I need to watch the import/export video that I hope will be helpful in understanding how to transfer sounds between the Zenology plug-in and the RD-88. If I could get that to work for me it's likely the best route. the idea of trying to tweak things on that tiny little screen makes me shutter.

I find the Clav sounds on this thing to be incredibly lame, the worst I've ever heard really. Odd for something that is a stage piano. Folks are saying there are some deep editing capabilities but wow, I've got to try and do that from the little screen? Anyone else dug into sound editing and found a better way to get into it?

So that's what I was just exploring with the hope that I could perhaps use Zenology as an editor for RD-88 sounds. I can buy Zenology Pro from the Roland Sound Cloud app for $229. Turns out that Zenology is apparently some sort of plug-in synth emulation. It appears sound editing tools are there and there are patches that can be tweaked but since it has to run within Ableton, Logic, DP, etc. how would I send my tweaked sounds out to the RD-88? The more I uncover the more confusing it gets. Tones (ZENOLOGY Pro / ZENOLOGY)4,106 Tones 109 Drum kitsTones (ZENOLOGY Lite)240 Tones 10 Drum kits *ZENOLOGY Lite cannot save or write user data *ZENOLOGY Lite cannot Import or Export User Tone/Drum Kit data Host ApplicationVST instruments (VSTi) version: VST 3.7 compatible Audio Units (AU) version: V2 Audio Units compatible AAX Compatible The Zenology Specs tab allude to being able to read/write, import/export with the pro version.

A lot of the frustration for me is that I didn't really want to dig into all this software. My situation has changed and I'm back to being a live band leader, I just want to have the gear making the right sounds so I can concentrate on other things. I'll be playing guitar and will only take a couple of turns at the keyboard. This leads to a slightly different but related rant, what happened to editor/librarian programs? Way back when I bought a new XP-30 it came with a disc that included samples, promo material and a fantastic OEM version of Sound Diver. You could deep dive into tweaking patches and saving presets from the full size screen of a computer and then save it all with a midi connection to the keyboard. I was really surprised when the FA-08 didn't include any software. So now the RD-88 only came with a manual, it's like de-evolution. They won't take any time to create, or commission, an editor program but spend all day telling you how great their sound cloud is. It's a confusing space where the lines between hardware, software, plug-ins and wifi blur. Others are writing that the RD-88 is pretty deep in regards to being able to edit sounds (the Zenology engine whatever that means). This is probably where I'll go but it will be a pain having to do it all on the little display, ugh.

Roland sound cloud has quickly become my worst nightmare. I tried to email support to get some information but this guy is worse than a bot that is only programed to sell sound cloud. I downloaded/installed roland cloud manager. Under the heading Hardware Instruments it pops up with a huge list of wave expansions/sound packs I can buy for the RD-88. Email tech bot person writes, "You could use the 30 day trial of Zenology Pro and audition the Clav sounds that come with that. You'd just purchase a membership and cancel it if you didn't like any of the sounds." Ok, well, Zenology Pro doesn't show up on the huge list of wave expansion/sound packs for the RD-88. It does appear under the heading Software Instruments but I don't see an option for "30 day trial", however, there is a Zenology Lite that is a free download. So I download that and poof!, where did that go? It's possible that it's just an AU/VST that only shows up as a plug-in in Ableton, Logic, DP, etc.? How does this have anything to do with a hardware instrument? It's a shame I didn't dig into this sooner or I'd have packed up and returned the RD-88 pronto. I used to be a huge Roland fan but after all these years I've quickly become disillusioned with them. I wonder if they've forgotten that someone might actually use one of these instruments in a place where you can't connect to the internet?

Ugh, I'm probably going to have to download the software and see if I can find a better clav sound for the RD-88. I only have a peripheral knowledge of what I need to do and I'm not looking forward to it. What annoys me is that I'll have to download and install software I don't really want or need in order to waste time looking for something that should have already been there without even knowing if I'll be able to find it.

I dug out my Beatles Complete Scores (the big white book) and did a dive into Get Back today. Some great licks that aren't complicated but yet have taken a little while to get under my fingers.

It looks like I'll need to install the Roland Cloud app on a computer.

It's kind of interesting to me that the bass player who's been coming over recently would like to do Get Back. I'm able to fake through it easily enough on guitar for rehearsal but thinking back; out of all the band, fill-in, one off gigs I've done over the last 30-40 years I don't recall this ever being on a set list that was handed to me. It's hard to believe and I must be mistaken! Recently I've had a strong desire to get back to performing as a true live act and getting away from creating/using backing tracks. Building the tracks has always been time consuming and often tedious work. The beauty of having everything timed correctly, effects switching in and out automatically and sounding like you have a world class group backing you is tempered by the sometimes sterile constraint of staying tightly synced to a click. It's taken some time but I've found a drummer and a bass player that appear to be very enthused to work with my wife and I so we've been rehearsing the last two or three weeks. It may take some time and we'll be gone on vacation soon but we'll keep slogging away and see what happens. It helps that we're all retired so things are some what relaxed and although I want it to be the best it can, it also has to be fun.

This would be a good first step and I'll need to take a look.

I have a newer ipad, wasn't even sure but just looked and it's apparently a 6th gen. I'd still want something newer before pursuing this but right now I'm just curious for possible future reference. For years I've used MBPs loaded with DP and MOTU interfaces for live backing tracks I've meticulously created myself. Originally inspired by Keyboard Magazine articles in the 90's I used this basic setup with bands and also carried it over when my wife and I became a duo. Within that context MIDI control and automation are just as important as audio. We're currently working with some other musicians and may break away from tracks but I want to keep up with the technology and like the idea of making things lighter, simpler, etc..

I'm interested in knowing more about how an ipad can be used live. I have an older one (I believe a 4) that's been sitting around a long time doing nothing. Way back I'd bought an IK Multimedia iRig MIDI unit and also a Line 6 Sonic Port but just never saw a practical use for either on gigs where, for years, I was already hauling a MBP with Digital Performer and MOTU interfaces to do MIDI/audio backing tracks with Roland/Korg boards.

We got an RD-88 in late December. It has a nice keybed and some decent sound but I'm really disappointed with the Clav sounds, they really suck. I have a much better sound for Superstition on my Korg Krome and even on our old Casio Privia PX-3.

The problem I see with iPads is that there's only one in/out port for everything.

We signed up for a Disney account preview so I could watch this back when it came out. I found it very interesting and you make some great points but what I really want to express excitement about is........the library! My wife has encouraged me for a long time and finally, a month or two ago, I went and got a library card. I can't remember the last time I had one, I was probably still in school. It's a really amazing resource, especially now in the digital world where I can download books to read, watch programs on Hoopla and am even doing a Rosetta Stone course to learn Spanish. I had been getting all my reading from Amazon/Kindle but that adds up and generally speaking (aside from technical/maintenance/instructional books/videos) once I've read something, I'm pretty much done with it. I don't want to hijack the thread but I'm pretty pumped about re-discovering a forgotten resource.

We have the standard live mics; a couple SM58 and an SM57 along with a couple AKG D880 I like that are relatively equivalent to SM58. For recording I'm down to just a Studio Projects C1 and recently bought a Rode NT1-A. A local studio owner friend of mine sold me the C1 and then later wanted to buy it back but no way! I used to have a couple of the popular cheap condensers; MXL990 and some Nady model but sold them. They weren't bad mics and I wish now I would have kept them, just because they're cheap doesn't mean they suck. If the sound I get from a microphone is bad, it's generally because I suck.

The AKOZLIN bag arrived and it's not great, I can't recommend it. It's a good fit but padding is skimpy. I'm still trying to decide whether to send it back. This Casio bag would probably be better.

I chose DP because at this point, it's the one I've used the most. It's at the top of my experience list primarily because it has unique features for live performance other DAWs don't have and I've used it on many gigs for many years now. There have been times I thought Ableton might be more efficient for live gigs and I recently upgraded to ver. 11. I have found it useful for a couple things but just haven't invested the time into it and frankly, attempting to port my whole life performance backing tracks would be a HUGE project. Additionally we've been working with some local musicians and actually hope to break away from tracks for a while and get back to pure live performance. When I got my newest MBP I had Logic 10 preinstalled. I was upset for a long time about Logic; I had been using Logic 9 a few years back and then suddenly, an OS update killed it dead. It's taken me a while to get over that and I hope to accomplish some home recording with it again. I've always been a fan of Reason's unique features and functionality and have used it a lot but as a DAW? Naw. In my early days I was PC and tried a few but really took to Cakewalk. I used it extensively well into the Sonar years but then abandoned it when I wanted to use laptops live. I quickly learned that Mac laptops were the way to go for live performing. It turned out to be for the best when Sonar went belly up a couple years later.

I recently had some experience with this when I bought a new monitor for an older Dell desktop. The Dell had DVI-D single link and HDMI outputs. I ordered a cable that was DVI-D to Display Port but after it arrived I learned that it's a one way connection, the opposite way, so I returned it and got a DVI-D to HDMI which works great and is supposedly capable of working either way. I needed to use the DVI-D output because I have a dual monitor setup and needed the HDMI output for that.